The Hindu Business Line : Tests support oral insulin, says Biocon

Bangalore, Sept. 8 Biocon Ltd, in a race to develop the world’s first non-injection insulin pill, said its breakthrough oral drug under development has showed encouraging results from human clinical data.

The company conducted its phase II trials on the revolutionary non-tablet-form insulin (codenamed IN-105) this year. It presented the outcome of trials of the drug at the ongoing European Association for the Study of Diabetes meeting in Rome.

“The results indicate that IN-105 is safe and well-tolerated by Type 2 [insulin-using] diabetic patients and is able to significantly drop two-hour post-prandial glucose in a dose-related manner,” a company release said here.

During the study, Type 2 diabetics were given ascending single doses of 0-30 mg over separate periods. Biocon now plans longer, six-month studies on Type 2 patients.

Expert’s take

It cited the supporting views of two prominent diabetologists and its technical advisers in the project — Prof Alan D. Cherrington, Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Professor of Medicine, Vanderbilt University, and Dr Harold E. Lebovitz, FACE, Professor Of Medicine, Endocrinology and Diabetes, State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn.

Prof Cherrington said, “The data presented here shows that insulin can be reliably delivered in individuals with Type 2 diabetes via the oral route. Further the administered insulin improved control post-meal plasma glucose without causing symptomatic hypoglycemia. Such data support the feasibility of oral insulin delivery as a therapeutic option.”

“The present study shows that IN-105 delivers physiologically active insulin orally in concentrations sufficient to decrease post-meal hyperglycemia and to decrease the burden of the meal on endogenous insulin secretion.

“These data support the feasibility of providing insulin orally to treat post-prandial hyperglycemia in diabetic patients,” Dr Lebovitz affirmed.

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